Emotions Boil Over as No. 1 South Carolina Edges No. 8 LSU in SEC Tournament Final

The No. 1 South Carolina Gamecocks are SEC tournament champions for the eighth time, though their 79–72 victory over the No. 8 LSU Tigers on Sunday in the tournament final at Greenville, S.C., wasn’t without controversy.

With just over two minutes left in the game, LSU guard Flau’jae Johnson could be seen elbowing South Carolina’s Ashlyn Watkins during a stoppage in play. After the contact from Johnson, chaos ensued as a shoving match broke out with players from both benches running onto the court. Among them was South Carolina center Kamilla Cardoso, who charged straight into Johnson, barreling her over onto the ground. 

As a result of skirmish, referees ejected almost the entire benches of both teams. Six players received ejections: Cardoso, three South Carolina bench players and two LSU reserves.

After the shoves were exchanged, one fan, whom ESPN analyst Brooke Weisbrod identified as Johnson’s brother, could be seen jumping over the scorer’s table onto the court. He was subsequently corralled by security. 

The multitude of ejections left LSU with only its five players on the floor still eligible. South Carolina had one reserve left in addition to the five players on the floor.

Because Cardoso was ejected for fighting, she will be suspended for the Gamecocks’ next game–their NCAA tournament opener. Cardoso’s ejection comes one day after she hit the winning three-pointer in South Carolina’s semifinal win over Tennessee. The other ejected players will be eligible to play in the first round of the tournament.

South Carolina improved to 32–0 and stands as the only unbeaten team in the nation in men’s or women’s basketball. LSU dropped to 28–5.